Thirty-one brothers and sisters

by Reba Paeff Mirsky

For Worthy Contributions

to Children’s Literature

JOHNNY TEXAS	by Carol Hoff 1950
ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY	by Sydney Taylor 1951
THIRTY-ONE BROTHERS AND SISTERS	by Reba Paeff Mirsky 1952

Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters

ONE: A Morning Adventure

Although it was morning, inside the straw hut it was still dark. Nomusa lay on her little bamboo mat, stretching and scratching her lean, naked body. She yawned and thought to herself:

Yo, I am still so sleepy! If only I did not have to get up to fetch water from the stream! Why must I leave my comfortable mat when Mdingi and Kangata may still sleep? Zulu boys have all the fun, and they don’t work nearly so hard as the girls.

Nomusa rolled up her mat, moving quietly so as not to wake her baby sister and her little brother. They lay sleeping on a larger mat next to her mother, Makanya.